Born to both Chinese Filipinos businesspersons parents, it's difficult to understand why I am not a businesswoman myself especially considering I finished a degree in no other than Management in college.
My Dad has always encouraged (if not required) us to work in a Corporate setting prior to setting up our own businesses or joining the family business after college graduation. I guess that is both a good and bad thing. It is good because according to entrepreneurs.about.com, 98% of entrepreneurs ranked prior work experience as an important factor. With over seven years of solid work experience doing both Recruitment and Marketing, I believe I easily have points in this success factor for entrepreneurs. It is a bad thing, on the other hand, because I never really found the guts to leave the secure confines of the Corporate world. I guess I still am a little too risk averse for an entrepreneur.
Another factor that is cited by the same site is lessons from failures. I believe my over seven years of work experience has granted me enough failures to learn from.
Another factor that is mentioned is luck. I believe this is something I am patiently waiting for. I have been in many serendipitous situations before; and I believe the Universe is still working on aligning the stars for my entry to the business world.
Personal and professional networks is also an important factor according to the site. I have been working on building my network in Iloilo City since I got back from four years of college in Manila. My current job allows me to do exactly just that—being in-charge of Marketing and Branding for the biggest BPO Company in Iloilo City, I have worked with vendors that I believe will be very helpful when I put up the business that I have dreamt of. Also, I have consciously made the effort to join other civic organizations to ensure that I add to my network too.
Availability of capital is also important. Over the past seven years of work, I have always made it a point to save a reasonable portion of my monthly earnings so that when the stars finally align for me, I would have the capital to fund my dream.
Ability to take risks is also another factor to successful entrepreneurship. I believe this is where I can still improve. One of the reasons I still have not put up my own business is because I am very risk averse.
Another factor is business management skills. I believe my undergraduate degree (including the experience I had from setting up our own business as part of our requirements for graduation then), my exposure to business from a very young age (my parents required us to tend our family hardware business on the weekends off from school), my MBA degree, my management of my Recruitment and Marketing team in my current job—these have equipped me with the management skills necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. I believe the same experiences have also equipped me with the market and industry knowledge needed to be successful.
However, what I consider the most important factor of being a successful entrepreneur is the heart—the passion to be an entrepreneur.
At a very young age, my Dad explained to me a small poster he had in his office of a saying—"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." Since then, I have struggled to live by that. I am very careful with the business I will venture into because I know that I will have to love it enough to spend countless sleepless nights and sacrifice many good, worry-less days with families and friends.
More than anything else, I believe it is the heart that makes one truly a successful entrepreneur. 3
Pamela Joy L. Go
+63 917 6250701
Have a little faith.
+63 917 6250701
Have a little faith.
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